Image enhancement is a common phenomenon in the 21st century, as competition has increased significantly in many areas of life, such as the job market. Both children and adults are constantly exposed to images depicting unrealistic body types in advertising, film, magazines and other types of media. This has affected many issues, such as a spike in depression (along with other mental health issues) and eating disorders across various age groups. The phenomenon of deformed body image is nothing new, it has existed for millennia and the perfect body has always been difficult to obtain, however, the type of body that is considered ideal today only became a reality in the 19th century, due to the transition from manual labor. While this is nothing new, ideal body image is more of a concern today than ever before, as with recent technological advancements, image editing programs now allow for seamless, easy and quick beautification of photographs. This essay will argue that editing programs are simply tools that, while enabling the unwanted tendency towards an unhealthy body image, are not directly responsible for it, as these applications were not created with the express purpose of improving people's photographs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Currently, social media is an integral part of many people's lives, with over a billion people having joined Instagram as of June 2018. It is clear that, with such a powerful presence in society, social media are bound to have an effect on how people perceive themselves. For this reason, Instagram and social media in general have been the subject of heated debates in recent years. A common concern involves celebrities retouching their photographs as these celebrities are often perceived as idols by younger audiences. This sets an unhealthy precedent, with many children engaging in unhealthy dietary practices. But celebrities are not the only ones who influence people's self-esteem, in fact, research has shown that people, regardless of age, tend to compare themselves to their peers more than celebrities on qualities such as character, intelligence and physical attributes. , such as height and weight. Because Photoshop requires a certain level of skill to create realistic images, few users, other than celebrities, heavily edit their photographs before sharing them. This would mean that although Photoshop plays a major role in distorting body image, the biggest role is played by normal people. For example, a trend promoting dangerous dietary practices, called “thinspiration,” has emerged in recent years. Thinspiration is ideal, thin media content that intentionally encourages weight loss, often in a way that glorifies dangerous behaviors, similar to eating disorders (Lewis and Arbuthnott, 2012). Thinspiration content often comes with aggressive advice and encouragement on how to lose weight and stay slim. The trend started on websites dedicated to eating disorders, but has since spread to popular social media sites as well. Thanks to the advanced search techniques, present in most social networks, which allow for quick and easy content search, it is possible to find inspirational content in just a few minutes by searching for the appropriate hashtags. This means that coming across such content by chance is trivial, especially since teenagers spend, on average, more than 3 hours a day on social media..